The luxury car, a custom blue 1997 Diablo VT Roadster, sold for $460,000 on Sunday night after five days on the bidding site. The car, which wasn't being sold by the Republican presidential candidate but a more recent owner, comes with original paint and upholstery, the candidate’s auto insurance identification card and certificate of liability. It also comes with a Trump 2016 sticker on the rear window.

Buying a Lamborghini, or just about any other luxury car — think Ferrari, Maserati and Rolls-Royce — is easy on eBay. Visitors can choose any make or model, whether they want it new or used, and enter a zip code. Search results can be narrowed down to the year the car was made, vehicle mileage, exterior or interior color and number of cylinders.

But it isn’t easy to know if the seller is trustworthy.

“The biggest problem is buying a car sight unseen,” said George O. West, a Las Vegas-based attorney with Consumer Attorneys Against Auto Fraud. He said he would not suggest purchasing a car online unless there were protections, such as PayPal’s
PYPL, -0.25%
buyer protection.

EBay offers Vehicle Purchase Protection for transactions up to $50,000 completed on the site, and includes vehicles paid for and not received, or vehicles that were sold but stolen, had an unknown lien, had a make, model or year different than described in the listing, had 5,000 or more miles than advertised and had undisclosed damage to an engine, transmission or frame. The protection does not cover vehicles more than 10 years old, or with normal wear and tear or damage to any component outside the engine, transmission or frame.

There were 10,635 auto fraud complaints in 2014 totaling nearly $39 million in losses according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Internet Crime Complaint Center. The Better Business Bureau had 6,200 complaints against eBay in the last three years, a significant amount of which had to do with eBay Motors and some of which were scams, said Katherine Hutt, BBB’s national spokeswoman. eBay is an accredited business with BBB and has an A+ rating, often responding promptly to complaints, she added.

“Scammers are using eBay to find the buyers,” she said.

EBay’s site provides tips for buying an expensive car, including researching the seller and negotiating the deal, as well as how to spot a fraud. Buyers should watch for sellers with low or no feedback or reviews on items that are very different from cars, like e-books.

Ford developing fully driverless car

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Ford plans to release a driverless car within the next five years, with an eye toward producing fleets of cars for ride-sharing and delivery services.

Sometimes, scam artists may ask to chat via email instead of eBay’s private messaging service, or say they need to use an escrow account, where money is transferred using a third-party outside of eBay. Hutt suggests buyers also beware of stories that sellers tell to quicken the purchasing process, such as a loved one who has passed or being sent overseas for the military. The more heartbreaking the story, the more a red flag should go up, she said.

There are, of course, legitimate sellers, too. Vinny Guadagnino from MTV’s reality show “Jersey Shore” personally placed his 2013 Lamborghini Gallardo on eBay, starting the bidding at $169,000. It ended with a best offer accepted, various news sites reported. But even if the seller is not a Hollywood star, higher-end vehicles will likely be more legitimate than older, high-mileage cars, West said.

“The greater risks are for a cheaper price,” he said.

If buyers really want to find a car on eBay, or other listing sites like Craigslist and Autotrader, they should determine what the right car for them would be and research the value beforehand. If they keep their search in the neighboring area, they should ask to see the car first — and bring a friend — and insist on test driving the car and viewing its records. If the car is not in the area, they should choose an inspection service to check on their behalf. Buyers can also check the VIN on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s database to see if there were any incomplete safety recalls.

Still, West suggests buyers stick with shops they can physically visit, especially if it isn’t a Lambo.

“If you are buying an ordinary everyday car, don’t buy it online,” he said. “There is no shortage of high-mileage-used cars in this country.”

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